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Rockies roll at Bremen, 34-13

PLYMOUTH — While one team feels pretty good about week one, the other comes away a little less positive in a Plymouth 34-13 win over Bremen.
“I’m proud of our kids they played hard,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “Bremen is a really good football team. They’ve got a lot of experience; they are going to beat a lot of people. This has become a rivalry only because (Bremen) Coach (Bob) Holmes has done a great job with a great program.”
Holmes felt a little differently about his team’s approach.
“It’s got to go up,” he said of the Lions’ play. “We had too many turnovers. Plymouth just wanted it more, and I think that’s the most disturbing thing we have to deal with is finding some intestinal fortitude. It has nothing to do with our physical play right now. We have to beat what’s between our ears.”
Plymouth used the big play to jump out in front early with a 63-yard touchdown run on the initial Rockie possession by Michael Hartman. From there it was a life and death struggle until just before halftime. In the last thee minutes the JB III era of Plymouth football arrived.
In the course of the last 2:52 of the first half Plymouth sophomore starting quarterback Jack Barron hit wide out Trent Briles for a 36-yard score and followed a fumble recovery later with a 20-yard touchdown strike to Dakota Brooke with :51 to go in the half, leading Plymouth to a 21-0 halftime lead.
From there it was downhill for the Rockies, who seemed to gain the upper hand.
“I really didn’t know what kind of a team we had starting so many young kids that haven’t played before,” said Barron. “I was happy with our offense. I was happy with our defense, but the penalties were horrible. We went into the game just trying to keep them in front of us. We wanted to play it really close to our vest and not do anything crazy. I think we got to them a little as the game went on.”
In spite of the Rockies’ big plays, Holmes’ Lions were able to keep pace.
“That’s one of our big things that goes back to our mental toughness,” said Holmes. “We’ve got to be able to focus every single play and not give up the big play and stay with our responsibilities.”
In spite of feeling good about his team, Barron didn’t feel good about one thing. Penalties.
“You think about the last game we played we had 115 yards against NorthWood last year (in an opening round playoff loss),” said Barron. “I’m not happy about it. That’s on me; that’s a reflection of the coach and that will be taken care of.”
Plymouth (1-0) takes on Rochester at home next week, Bremen (0-1) is on the road at Tippecanoe Valley.
• PLYMOUTH 34, BREMEN 13
At Bremen
Score by quarters
Plymouth: 7 14 6 7 – 34
Bremen: 0 0 0 13 – 13
Scoring Summary
First quarter
P — Michael Hartman 63-yard run. (Jacob LaFree kick) 10:42
Second quarter
P – Jack Barron 36-yard pass to Trent Briles. (Jacob LaFree kick) 1:46
P — Barron 20-yard pass to Dakota Brooke. (LaFree kick) :51
Third quarter
P – Justin Drudge 50-yard run. (LaFree kick failed)
Fourth quarter
B – Kai Slough 12-yard pass to Jacob Bennitt. (Lucas Schlarb kick failed) 9:07
P – Brooke 18-yard run. (LaFree kick)
B – Jon Stoller 2 yard run. (Schlarb kick)